1. Technical Field
The present invention is generally related to the area of data communication between a client and a server over the Internet. Particularly, the present invention is related to techniques for embedding selected data in a data packet sequence. Depending on the constraints of data packets in the data packet sequence, some of the data packets are modified or new data packets are fabricated to embed the selected data in the data packet sequence, all achieved transparently.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advertisement industry penetrates every aspect of our life. Traditional advertising channels including newspapers, radio, and television offer variety of products that can be tailored to virtually any market and satisfy companies of any size. However, they can only provide static content and cannot engage potential customers interactively. Rapid growth of the Internet offers the advertisers a unique opportunity to make interactive advertisement campaigns possible by allowing end users to close the loop, namely inducing users to click on an advertisement being served or linking the users to the actual product.
One early form of advertising over the Internet is the “banner ad,” which entails embedding an advertisement into a web page. The banner ad is intended to attract traffic to a website of the advertiser. The advertisement is typically constructed from a high-aspect ratio image, often employing colors, animation or sound to maximize its presence in a webpage. These types of advertisements can be positioned somewhere near the primary content in the webpage (e.g., from a newspaper article or a collection of web portal links). The typical banner ad is purchased in bulk by an advertiser from a publisher of the webpage. Often, the content of the advertising bears no relationship to the interests of the viewer, and therefore makes it unlikely that the viewer may attempt to click through to the website of the advertiser. For example, it is very unlikely that male users would click through any banner ads that show cosmetic promotions for females.
There are two dominant techniques in on-line marketing today. The first one is contextual-based; an advertisement being served is chosen based on the browsing context. In other words, an AD being delivered to the end user is based on the content of a web site being visited. For example, users going to a car site such as “Edmund's car buying guide” will most likely be presented with an automotive advertisement displaying a car or related accessories and services. The second one is behavioral based; an advertisement being served is chosen based on the previous browsing history of a user and is not necessarily related to the content of a site currently being viewed.
The famous website www.google.com is one of the examples based on context. For example, when a user enters a search query on the website, the website delivers advertisements based on the search terms in addition to delivering the requested content responding to the search query. In this case, the content provider (i.e., the search engine website) is the intended recipient of the search query from the user, so the content provider is able to provide targeted advertising based on the search query or the results from the relevant search websites. Thus, the content provider possesses the information necessary to make determinations regarding the content and context from the user.
The entities that own the networks, various mechanisms to facilitate the users to access the Internet and various websites are commonly referred to as “service providers”. In various ways, these service providers facilitate movement of packetized information in a computer network. Such service providers typically provide value-added services, such as providing “last-mile” hook-up of the network to the home, office, or mobile product, using networks the service providers own or networks owned by other service providers.
From one perspective, service providers possess the first-hand information of all the packets traveling in their networks. By examining information from content being communicated over the networks, a service provider can examine data packets to inspect for computer viruses, thereby enhancing the security of its network. In some cases, a service provider may even be able to obtain the first-hand knowledge how a subscriber browses the Internet for relevant information. However, the service provider is not being fully equipped to provide commercial information that may be of high interest to its subscribers.
Thus there is a great need for a service provider to be able to deliver targeted commercial information that is of interest to its users. As a service provider is in a business to move data from one location to another location, there is another need for techniques that deliver the targeted commercial information without interrupting or altering the data traffic. As the targeted commercial information is tailored to a user or a group of users in responding to their network activities, there is a need for techniques to deliver such targeted commercial information as closely correlated with the interest of the user(s) as possible.